There has been a raging debate on whether president Emerson Mnangagwa will get a third term or not.LEAD president Linda Masarira had this to say about this situation:
It is impossible for President Mnangagwa to have a third term, and this is his final term.
Lest we have forgotten, he finished Mugabe ‘s term after the late RG Mugabe was removed from office. He got a full term in 2018, which ended in 2023, and now he is in his 2nd and final term in office constitutionally.
Zimbabwe is a constitutional democracy. Thus, changing the constitution is not an easy walk in the park for this particular issue on presidential term extensions. @edmnangagwa got a legal mandate to lead through the ballot in 2018 and in 2023, respectively. According to our constitution, he can not extend his rule into a third term because our constitution is very clear on presidential term limits. A president has two term limits, which is the ceiling and there is no option of extension.
If @ZANUPF_Official is contemplating to amend the constitution to extend vaMnangagwa’s term, I have bad news for them, Cde Mnangagwa cannot benefit from any amendment that can be done in respect of term limits because an incumbent is not supposed to benefit from the changes that happen during his or her tenure and that is clearly articulated in our constitution which is the Supreme Law of this land.
Constitution amendments can be done via Parliament , Senate and a referendum so those are hurdles to pass through. Since our constitution says the incumbent cannot benefit from the changes that happen during his tenure this situation has a national effect because changes on presidential term limits cannot happen without a referendum.
As for us at LEAD we remain oncourse with our programs and will not be swayed from real pertinent electoral reforms issued to fully democratise Zimbabwe and usher in an inclusive system of governance that works for every Zimbabwean by following the wind wherever it blows. Good day.
